Citizen Media and Civil Resistance in West Papua
ENDANGERED JOURNALISTS
East Timor and West Papua, several political leaders involved with Team 100
privately began to re-evaluate their objectives to include full independence.
When Team 100 met with Habibie, a number of West Papuans launched
into an impassioned plea for independence. Stunned and clearly misinformed
about the depth and extent of discontent in West Papua, Habibie put aside his
prepared response and in an emotional appeal urged the West Papuan delegation
to reconsider their desire to separate from Indonesia. Although there was no clear
outcome from the meeting, the West Papuan struggle had exploded onto Indone-
sia's political centre stage. West Papuans' long-suppressed desire for independ-
ence was now on the table and Team 100 returned home to a hero's welcome.
After returning from the meeting with Habibie a number of prominent
West Papuan political leaders immediately began preparations for a national
consultation called Musyuwarah Besar, often shortened to Mubes, on the causes
of conflict in West Papua and strategies to achieve merdeka (freedom and in-
dependence). Mubes, which was held in February 2000, attracted thousands of
West Papuans from all around the country. It was a bold act of political defiance.
The long-banned Morning Star flag flew free and the desire for independence
was expressed openly. Delegates held elections to form the PDP, the Presidium
Dewan Papua or Papuan Presidium Council, a kind of parallel government made
up of a 31-member executive (the Presidium) and a 500-member panel of local
representatives from every region of West Papua (the Council). The PDP then
agreed to hold a congress six months later—the Second Papuan Congress, tak-
ing its name from the 1961 national congress that formed the West New Guinea
Raad, the parliament established by the Dutch.
The Second Papuan Congress, held between May 29 and 4 June 2000 in
Port Numbay/Jayapura, was attended by West Papuan leaders living in exile
and representatives from every sector of society and region in West Papua.
Outside the meeting tens of thousands of West Papuans who could not fit into
the overflowing auditorium danced and held vigil, applying moral pressure on
even the most moderate West Papuan leader to support independence. Based
on photographs from the time and interviews with participants and witnesses,
including the handful of foreigners, I estimate around 50,000 West Papuans
were in attendance.
The PDP targeted the Achilles' heel of Indonesia's occupation, directly
challenging Indonesia's legitimacy to rule West Papua. They rejected both the
1962 New York Agreement and the sham UN-sponsored Act of Free Choice
and declared that West Papua was already independent and was currently be-
ing illegally occupied by the Indonesian state. In a communiqué released at the
conclusion of Mubes, Theys Eluay, PDP chair and his deputy, Thom Beanal,
issued the following statement:
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